Warlord's Mercy: 4 (Barbarian Claims)

Cynthia
Sax

Book 4 of the Barbarian Claims series.

Tolui, a clone of a powerful Warlord, is a male without a
homeland or a future. He’s doomed to never mate, and ruthlessly wages war,
seeking to give his clone brothers a planet system to call their own, a place
where they can live without persecution.

When Tolui crashes on a deserted planet and meets a small
human female, he discovers everything he knows about clones is a lie. Lea, his
destined mate, unleashes the passion he’s suppressed over his lifetime. He
wants her. He needs her. He’ll do
anything
to bond with her.

But he
won’t
share her. Tolui’s greatest battle will
be the fight for Lea’s heart. To win her love, he’ll face hundreds of his clone
brothers, men who look exactly like him.

A
Romantica®
futuristic erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Lea neatly folded the leg and chest coverings and slid them
into a crack in the rock, leaving them for Har, her business associate, to
retrieve. The death garments she had crafted had been horrifically small. The
female must have been barely a woman.

Lea sighed. That would have been her fate if she hadn’t fled
to the underground tunnels four solar cycles ago. She had been young and naïve
then. All of them had been. When they had exited the transport ship and stepped
upon Chamele 4’s reddish-brown sands, Lea, her father, and the other refuges of
the Balazoid-Federation wars had declared the barren planet to be their new
home.

Daisun and his band of brutes had then attacked them,
slaughtering the males and enslaving the females. Daisun had laughed as he’d
killed her peace-loving father. He’d smiled as he’d kicked the body aside. Lea
had run from the blood-soaked scene, her dreams of a home, companionship, a
normal life shattered.

He’d pursued her for solar cycles, tracking her through the
rough terrain, forcing her to live in isolation, spending nights alone, hidden
deep within the underground tunnels. She had met with others only to trade and
only when it was safe, when Daisun and his males were far away.

She had to be even more careful now. Lea glanced at the
crack in the rock. As his supply of sex slaves dwindled, Daisun would increase
his efforts to capture her.

“To save myself, I must leave the land I’ve grown to love.”
She skimmed her fingers over the stone outcropping. Varying shades of color
delineated centuries of soil settlement and created intricate designs on its
surface, designs she used in the garments she crafted.

“I’ll take these images with me,” she murmured. The hum of
an approaching ship’s engine filled the silence. “Chamele 4 will always be a
part of my soul.”

The ship’s hum became a roar surprisingly quickly. She
tilted her head back as a small vessel shot across the orange, cloudless sky.
It flew too fast and too low over Lea’s head, whipping strands of her hair against
her face. The ship wouldn’t clear the nearest and the largest of the
Khatagtai
Mountains. A tremor rolled down her spine. The base of the mountain was a short
trek from where she stood.

Lea slung her empty pack over her shoulders and she ran,
following the ship. Her boots skimmed across the sand. Perspiration trickled
between her breasts, underneath her chest covering. Pieced together from rock
vulture skins, the snug-fitting brown leather garment deflected merely a
fraction of the sun’s scorching rays.

A boom echoed across the arid landscape and a cloud of red
dust rose from the base of the mountain. Daisun and his brutes would see that
cloud. Lea moved faster, determined to be the first being to arrive at the
wreckage. She pumped her arms and legs, her thigh muscles burning as she darted
between the tall spires of rock. The path was rough and seldom used, the arid
planet home to a few sparse settlements of humanoid squatters, vicious rock
vultures and even deadlier beasts she didn’t dare hunt.

Lea passed a viewscreen half buried in the ground, its
transparent surface fractured with cracks. Twisted metal stuck out of the sand.
The scent of spilled fuel clung to the blistering-hot wind. Increasing amounts
of debris littered the trail.

There’d be no survivors.
She pushed away her sadness
and maintained her harsh pace. Solar cycles of scavenging alone and
unprotected, on Chamele 4 had taught her to look after herself first. If she
was ever to leave, to find a safer home, she needed a working power converter. This
ship might have one.

She rounded a bend and skidded to a stop, sand spraying over
her overly large boots. An escape pod was wedged between a boulder and the base
of the mountain. The doors were open. The panels were gouged and dented, their
markings written in both Chamele and the universal language. The sand around
the vessel was stained black.

Lea extracted daggers from her thigh sheaths and approached
the escape pod slowly, carefully. Severed cables snapped, blue light flashing
from the writhing ends. One set of bloody handprints coated the doorframe. The
red marks were large, the fingers thick and male.

She glanced around her and didn’t see any beings. She
listened and heard nothing except for the sizzle and pop of the damaged vessel.

Lea held her breath and stepped into the escape pod. She
exhaled. The space was empty. Puddles of red blood pooled on one white seat.
More blood slicked the floor. The control pad had been torn off the wall panel,
the homing device disconnected.

He doesn’t want to be found and I don’t want to find him.
Lea sheathed her daggers and pried off another wall panel, revealing the power
converter. She extracted a loosening tool from her pack and carefully
disconnected the delicate piece of technology. Sweat beaded on her forehead as
she worked. Lea was keenly aware that Daisun and his band of thugs were headed
toward her.

If Daisun captures me, I’ll wish I were dead.
She
removed the power converter and nestled it between the hides in her pack. A
rock vulture screeched, its distinctive call warning Lea another being neared.

She heaved the pack over her back, straining at the weight,
hurried through the exit and—

A force slammed her back against the escape pod, the breath
whooshing from her lungs, the pack dropping from her shoulders. “Don’t move,” a
deep voice growled. A large male pressed his muscular forearm against her neck,
his hold strong enough to restrain her yet loose enough to allow her to
breathe. Her booted feet dangled above the ground.

Lea gazed into a scarred rugged face. The male’s dark eyes
gleamed with barely repressed rage, his jaw square and strong. His long
straight black hair draped over wide tanned shoulders. Blood dripped down his
defined torso.

She stilled, her body instinctually responding to the
stranger’s dominance, her nipples tightening and her pussy moistening. He was a
Chamele warrior and she was an illegal squatter on his hunting planet, a
physically weaker human. She should fear him.

Lea felt many emotions, none of them fear. He was powerful,
well able to protect her from Daisun, from rivals, and she was a female who
hadn’t been held in many solar cycles. In his face, she saw no cruelty, only
anger and an intriguing awareness.

He wants me.
Lea met his gaze.
And I want him.

The Chamele’s nostrils flared and his eye color deepened to
the stark black of open space. “A clone can’t have a
gerel
.” He leaned
into her, the impressively large ridge in his leg coverings pushing against
her. “This…you must be a trick.” A scar slashed his face from his eye to his
mouth and he brushed that scarred cheek against hers, the raised skin exciting
her. He was fierce and dangerous and he desired her. “I should kill you now.”

Lea swallowed hard, her mouth drying with lust, not terror.
He wouldn’t kill her. She knew that in her soul. “You can kill me later,
Chamele,” she said with a bravado she didn’t feel. “We have to move. Daisun and
his brutes will be here soon, and if we remain at the crash site, they’ll kill
you and take me captive.”

“I’m Tolui, a Chamele.” He flared his fingers and extended
his claws, sun reflecting off the deadly tips. “The brutes you fear can’t kill
me.” Blood streamed down his chest.

“Normally, I’d agree with you but you’re hurt, Tolui.” She
touched the five deep wounds on his shoulder and he inhaled sharply. “And there
are many of them. Follow me to safety.” Lea wiggled, rubbing her body over his,
trapped between him and the escape pod. All of his physique was unrelentingly
hard, a finely honed weapon he could use against her…if he wished to harm her.

“Why should I trust you?” Tolui searched her face, the bulge
in his leg coverings telling her what he truly wanted. “You could lead me into
a trap.”

Lea stared back at him, having nothing to hide. “Then don’t
trust me. Trust the rock vultures.” She gazed upward. A flock of rock vultures
circled slightly to the right above them, their position scarily close. “Whom
are they hunting?”

Tolui tilted his head back and studied the sky, his profile
as cragged as the mountain, his long hair sweeping over his spine. She wanted
to skim her fingertips along the scar on his nose, to bury her face in his
black hair, to inhale more of his musky male scent.

“If you betray me, little female, I’ll kill you.” He
released her and she dropped to the ground, her boots sinking into the sand.

Lea picked up her heavy pack, grunting with the effort. “I
thought you had already decided to kill me.” She trudged toward the mountain,
taking the winding trail to the right.

“If you betray me, I’ll kill you slowly.” Tolui transferred
the pack from her shoulders to his, lifting it easily. He walked silently
behind her, his body casting a shadow over her, blocking some of the heat of
the giant blood-red sun.

“Ahhh…that’s comforting.” She’d lived with the possibility of
dying for many solar cycles and that threat no longer scared her. Lea headed
toward a hidden entrance to the underground tunnels. She’d found it on one of
her explorations.

Males whooped behind them. Daisun’s brutes must have located
the escape pod. Lea sprinted away from that danger, trusting Tolui to match her
speed.

Wind whistled above Lea, warning her another two-legged
predator had found them. “Down!” She tumbled forward over the sand, wincing as
talons grazed her leather-clad back, leaving a stinging trail over her skin.

Tolui jabbed his claws upward, impaling the rock vulture on
the sharp tips, and he casually tossed the creature behind him. It screeched,
its beak opening and shutting, revealing deadly teeth, its hairless,
featherless wings flapping.

The Chamele warrior didn’t give the rock vulture a second
glance. He rushed to Lea’s side and scooped her into his arms, surrounding her
with his hard muscle, engulfing her in his body heat.

“You’re hurt,” Tolui rumbled. He felt so good, so right, as
though he was meant to hold her. Lea was tempted to linger in his embrace, to
savor the illusion of safety, of being protected, cared for.

“She went this way,” a male shouted.

Pain blazed across her back as Lea wiggled out of Tolui’s
fierce grip. “We have to move.” She scrambled to her feet and dashed down the
trail, swerving to the left and to the right, avoiding rock spires and
fossilized trees.

The voices grew louder behind them. Lea panted, perspiration
coating her skin. Her leg coverings clung to her thighs, her muscles screaming
a protest.

She finally spotted the crevice in the rock wall and slowed.
“In here.” She gestured toward the small opening.

“You enter before I do.” Tolui jutted his jaw, his scars
flashing silver in his tanned face.

There was no time to argue. Lea slipped though the crevice
easily, entering the dark cool cavern, and she held out her hand. “Give me the
pack.” She gritted her teeth as he complied, the heavy pack straining her arm
muscles. “Now you follow.” She stepped back, her steps obscenely loud in the
confined space.

Tolui grunted as he squeezed through the opening. He made it
through…barely, the tight fit reopening his healing wounds. “
Gerel
.” He
swayed on his feet, his face pale and his mouth pressed into a grim white line.
The rock had been painted red with his blood.

“Stay here.” Lea extracted a hide from her pack and wiped
the leather over her perspiration-covered legs, dampening the garment. She slid
back into the crevice and frantically scrubbed the rock clean.

“I get her first,” Daisun declared, his disgusting claim on
her body spoken too close for Lea’s comfort.

She reentered the cavern and raised her right index finger
to her lips, signaling for Tolui to be quiet. Her heart pounded, her palms
moistening.

“You can have her after I’m done with her,” her nemesis
promised and a tremor of fear rolled down Lea’s spine. Daisun was the reason
she didn’t feel safe on Chamele 4. He was the reason she had to leave…soon,
before her luck ran out.

“There won’t be anything left once you’re done with her,”
one of his males grumbled. “She’s too small to last long.”

“That’s true.” The cruelty edging Daisun’s laughter sickened
Lea. She gripped the damp walls of the cavern, hoping she’d remain hidden,
safe.

The males exchanged jibes, talking about cock sizes and
females they’d abused in the past. Their words faded until she no longer heard
them.

That was too close.
Lea trembled.

Tolui moved swiftly, silently, appearing suddenly before
her. He wrapped his arms around her, careful not to touch the scratches on her
back, and he pressed her face into his bare chest. He was warm and big and
strong, a Chamele warrior, well able to defend her…if he wished to.

He doesn’t wish to defend me.
Lea sighed.
He
wishes to rut with me and then leave.
She examined the wounds on his
shoulder. Skin already covered the puncture marks. “You heal quickly.” She
traced the holes with her fingertips.

Tolui shuddered, the muscles in his abdomen rippling. “I’m a
Chamele…clone.” Red pigment streaked across his scarred cheekbones.

“You’re a clone?” Lea met Tolui’s gaze. He lifted his chin
and straightened to his full height, glaring down at her as though daring her
to comment on his origins. Cloning was forbidden in the Chamele system.

Lea didn’t come from the Chamele system. She judged him for
who he was, not for his genetics, and in her eyes, he was Tolui, a formidable
male in his prime. “Are you enhanced?” she asked, curious. She’d never heard of
a Chamele clone before now.

Tolui nodded curtly, his gaze fixed on her face.

“That would make you more powerful than a Chamele. I’m a
mere human.” She offered him a small smile, wondering if a mighty Chamele clone
would lower himself to rut with a human female. “You’ll be able to kill me
easily.”